There is no separate schizophrenia gene, scientists believe. But there are eight combinations of genes that are responsible for the development of different
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types of this disease.
In a person with schizophrenic disorder, thinking becomes illogical: ideas are interconnected distinctly or without a clear pattern. Often hallucinations occur, accompanied by imaginary sensations – species, smells or sounds (voices), which are mistaken for real.
Speech can be incoherent – turn into “verbal crumb” from logically incoherent or invented words. Emotions can fade away and in no way externally manifest or be inappropriate in the current situation. Schizophrenia occurs in 1% of people living on Earth 1 . The risk of schizophrenia in the inheritance is approximately 80%.
Studying the issue
Even after many years of research, scientists failed to discover the gene responsible for the occurrence of schizophrenia. Today, researchers are inclined to the opinion that there are not one gene, but eight different combinations of genes that contribute to the development of eight types of schizophrenia.
That is, schizophrenia is not one disease, but a group of eight genetically different types of disease, each of which has a set of symptoms.
“In the past, scientists were looking for a connection between a separate genome and schizophrenia,” explains Dragan Sorrakich, doctor of medical sciences and professor of psychiatry at Washington University (USA). – when one study revealed the connection of the gene with the disease, another study of this connection did not show. Only now the idea arose that genes interact with each other, and do not act independently “.
Data confirmation
4196 patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and 3200 adults without this diagnosis took part in the conducted large -scale studies. Scientists compared various DNA variations for all participants.
In total, scientists analyzed about 700,000 sites inside the genome, where one DNA element was changed. The researchers tried to detect what genetic variations cause the disease in such images.
So, for example, hallucinations and nonsense were associated with one set of genes, which showed the likelihood of developing schizophrenia in 95% of cases. Other signs (disorganized speech and behavior) were discovered with another DNA set that causes 100% probability of schizophrenia.
Scientists were able to draw such conclusions only by dividing patients into groups in accordance with genetic variations and symptoms. This helped them see that various types of genes acted together, causing symptoms of illness 2 .
“Genes do not work on their own. They prefer to interact with each other in the manner of an orchestra, says Dr. Robert Cloninger, one of the authors of the study. – And in order to understand how they work, you need to know not only every member of the “orchestra”, but also what relations they are in “3 .
The discovery made will help scientists more effectively help treat the disease – or rather, each of its separate species. In addition, the study of the interaction of genes can help in the treatment of other, not psychiatric diseases: for example, hypertension and diabetes mellitus.